I explain why everything that is scary about recruitment in the future, is to do with candidates, not clients.

We cover the future of talent sourcing, what social media really means for our industry, and critical skills recruiters need to master the craft of recruitment.

We discuss what clients will actually pay for, and we decipher the motivations of candidates, and the looming talent shortage. We discuss job boards and LinkedIn, and frankly their role in recruitment does not bode well for our industry.

18 Comments

Thanks for a really interesting discussion about the future of recruitment, Greg. You had a lot of harsh truths in there for some recruiters!
Recruiters forget that recruitment is - in essence - not a sales role, but a customer service role. If you are not serving your customers - candidates and clients - then they will go elsewhere. Your point about empathy was excellent. I've worked with some exceptional salespeople in my 13 years of recruiting, all of whom were bereft of any form of empathy whatsoever! I've heard them call candidates and clients all kinds of names, castigating them and belittling them when the candidate decided a job wasn't for them, or when the client wanted to discuss fees. The interesting thing to note is that a lot of these people are no longer in the industry. I'm hopeful that the ultra-sales-y recruiters will go the way of the dinosaurs and leave the industry to those of us who are passionate about people and who genuinely care about assisting people as they look for new employment opportunities.
Your comments about job boards were also interesting. I think I've had only one job on a job board in the past 18 months, purely due to the reasons you addressed in your webinar.
Again, a great webinar that I will be recommending my colleagues watch. Thanks for some interesting discussion (dispute?!!) fodder.

Great video. Unbelievable we are taking so long to get this. Perhaps it is so simple we try to make it difficult - niche offering, engage all parties, influence (seduce), differentiate, empathise, network, add value (delight beyond expectations and share your insights to all parties). As you say Greg, every single person you meet when you operate in a niche is both a candidate and in my experience a future client. Well said. I will ensure my team take 30 minutes out in case they need any reminders of what it takes to be a professional.

How informative you are Greg, I can't get enough of your expertise and wisdow!
Thanks a lot for the amazing article/video! I already shared it with all my ExpressPros family :)
Infinite blessings from Canada! July 14th I will be in Sydney "Oh how I wish I could meet you"!!!!

Greg,
Loved the webinar! Your insights into the importance of the fundamentals of successful recruitment.."the craft of recruitment", "candidate care" etc really stood out and resonate with how we recruit at REO Recruitment.
We live and breathe our vision of "Building teams and building careers" on a daily basis and as a result our focus is always ultimately on what is best for our candidates and clients. We treat candidates with human care and treat them almost as if they are our best friends - we show care, we consistency communicate with them, we genuinely create opportunities for them. Reality is that we're not always the ones that get them their next job. But they always come back to thank us. In fact the results for us have been phenomenal and our clients and candidates see us as a breath of fresh air. We consistently do what is best for the candidates and as a result a large percentage of our candidates become our clients even if we weren't able to get them a job.
I wanted to share this with you because you mentioned that you are yet to come across an agency that is building a brand based on candidate service. REO does that daily.
Our challenge is attracting consultants to work for us. We say no more often than yes to prospective consultants. We don't want the bad habits and we want people to come in with no ego and have a strong desire to work within the REO Methodology - which is all about focusing on candidate care and being real advisors and consultants to clients. We have proven this success formula as we have built 4 consultants that are within the top 1% of billers within the accounting and finance market. This is all because everyone consistently follows the REO methodology.
I really enjoyed your webinar and look forward to more insights from you in the future.
Ragav

Greg, I get what you are saying about contingent recruitment but how do we change our clients who have only ever known that and will not entertain the idea of retained?
I truely believe that each and every consultancy / recruiter out there needs to ensure that they have the correct client and candidate BD for their market. Current and moving forward.
Some success examples:
- I don't use social media at the moment... but are open to it. Candidate side, my desk requires in depth headhunting, making contact with lots and lots of candidates and putting them in a nurturing talent pool till later... I have to know when they are ready to change, what job they want next and if something sudden happens then I must be the first person they call. Client side, I have about 10 clients. I have about 40 jobs open at a time and place about 5 to 10 a month.
- I have a mate recruiting in blue collar, 100% PSA, they still get people from the newspaper and seek / careerone / my career.
- A friend who recruits mining.... pure head hunting and finding out who has which licence. No PSAs
- A rec to rec mate - 100% social media, 100% reverse marketing, does not work vacant job orders. No PSAs
- A sales recruiter - same as the Rec to Rec, find a candidate, see who their competitors are and send them out the door, speaks to more new clients a week than anyone I know! If the candidates are any good they get placed.
- An Accounting Recruiter who works senior level in 4 verticals, works vacancies and talent pools. Similar to myself but he is not a PSA recruiter.
- A PSA based contact centre recruiter - places about 10 to 20 people a month off Seek, careerone and MyCareer (plus replaces about 5 every month!)
A mix of diferent client techniques and recruiting techniques. 5 years ago I worked for a company that downized from 56 to 6 staff, closing 5 offices - sad times but the clients were tragicqally hit by the GFC shedding hundreds of staff and they also bulked up their internal teams and had no more need for us, we were unwanted - our calls no longer returned.
What ever you are doing, hold your head up high, give the best service you can and remember that your product is very precious and needs to be treated well. If you have loads of candidates, are doing the correct activity and are not making any placements then you must change your sector, the companies you are prospecting do not need you.

Thank you for the extremely valuable insights!
I have been a student of recruiting since sending a survey to the F500( back in the dark ages) on how they choose their C level executives. We received an amazing 25% response to the survey, but were disappointed to find the interview (the least predictive tool) was most often used to make the hiring decision. The results also indicated that the decision makers tended to hire those they perceived to be like themselves. A practice that from my own experience and observation over the past 40+ years sadly continues to be the case.
Question - if this is still the most important determinant in the majority of cases, how does a recruiter reeducate the client and/or prepare the candidate in order to achieve a successful outcome?
A related question - would it be desirable for the profession to define success in terms of post-hire client/candidate satisfaction and stickiness?
A final question. The majority of new hires are continuing to be generated by small companies in the US. How does a recruiter become/remain relevant to this market segment going forward?

Greg - great information! I agree - Linked In is not our friend. Be very careful who you allow to link to you! However, it is a great tool - but use it wisely.
I also believe we are at the tip of the iceberg and you are so right to say, get the candidate to reach out to you. Get to know your candidates.... you can only represent the candidates you know are highly qualified. It is all about recruiting the best and maintaining that data base of great people. When tie right position opens up, we can make the calls - if they don't want the position, perhaps someone in their circle will. It is all about who you know, who knows someone! It has always been about Networking, making a presence! We all have to work harder these days, work smarter!

Greg, I love what you have to say and agree one hundred percent. I am a niche recruiter and after surviving 15 years in what is a fairly small industry, consider myself a dinosaur!! I still enjoy the game and am constantly amazed, as well as frustrated, by reports from candidates of the treatment that they receive from other agencies. My candidates, whether I have placed them or not, are my advocates and my champions and I honestly can say that I could probably count on one hand, those who don't think well of me. I remember something that my Team Leader said to me when I was starting out in the industry and that I have and lived by ever since: "You never know where people who apply to you are going to end up - the person you are rude to today, could end up as a hiring manager with one of your clients. Be nice to everybody" It's probably the best piece of advice I have ever had.
We can only hope that in the recruitment industry revolution that you are predicting, the contingent recruitment model goes by the wayside. Sure, it may reduce work for all of us but I'd rather work where I know I am going to get paid and have the time and focus to do a great job than simply "spray and pray" with resumes on the client's desk.
Thanks for your work, I am a newbie to your blog and enjoy what you have to say and the way in which you say it.

I find it interesting that the focus here is on benefits to candidates and not clients. My clients are my partners, not the candidates. That doesn't mean we don't treat candidates well. But our clients pay our fees and we're working for them. We don't post on job boards or crawl them for resumes, so we aren't in the group you presume most recruiters reside - but where you say we should be (agree there of course). Our "candidates" are industry professionals we stay in touch with and their referrals. I think recruitment is DEvolving with online activity. But then, we didn't run classifieds or advertise in trade publications "back in the day" either. Old school, with some great technology advantages now, does the trick. Scout out the people employers want to hire. Ad responders are a weak pool of candidates. I don't believe clients pay us "the big bucks" for low hanging fruit. And I have no desire to plow through the same recycled resumes as hundreds of others. Yes, by the way, we are largely a contingency firm.

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GREG SAVAGE

With a career spanning four decades, Greg is a founder of 4 highly successful businesses, is a trusted advisor and respected voice across the global recruitment and professional services industries, and a regular keynote speaker at conferences around the world.